An essay on Dramabeans comparing Korean dramas to old Victorian serials and how viewers affect the course of the storytelling:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2019/01/serialized-stories-and-the-viewer-voice/
A drama like 2018’s My Ajusshi is a prime example. It faced immediate criticism even before airing due to the 20-year age gap between stars IU and Lee Sun-kyun.
The production went to great lengths to convince the public that the story was not a romance, and The Korea Herald reported that in order to assuage viewer criticism, the production team chose to self-censor some of its content. It was reported that though producer Kim Won-suk was “not fully content with the moves,” they self-censored and kept with the original message of the drama as best as they could.
Read more.

What a coincidence, especially in her title "The Mister."
@ann04, if you go over to the SKY Castle thread, I think you'll find many familiar names there. I haven't started but plan to. Wish it were a little easier to access.

Is anyone watching Memories of Alhambra? Many viewers are very unhappy with the way Park Sin Hye's character is written as it is severely underdeveloped. In a recent interview, the writer of that drama confessed that she originally pictured that character to be like IU's Lee Ji An. Something obviously went wrong in the writing because that character is nothing like LJA. But I'm so pleased that even drama writers are inspired by My Ajusshi.

@roseariel, @widala, I wish his stylists would always fix his hair, that's all. hahaha... It seems they like to have him wear expensive designer's jackets that aren't the most flattering. His recent appearance with the glasses and Balenciaga jacket somehow made him look adorably like Harry Potter to me.

When I read girlfriday's words in the Best Drama category, it struck me that she herself was one of the many who feel the strong attraction between the main characters beyond the platonic kind:
girlfriday:
I can’t exactly describe watching My Ajusshi as a pleasurable experience, because it was so much more complex than that—an emotionally cathartic, deeply raw, sometimes painful journey through the darkest and loneliest moments of everyday life. It was a story about how tenuous human connection can be, and yet how a seemingly tenuous connection can alter the course of your life in profound ways. The simmering emotions underneath the carefully restrained performances were the highlight of the series, and in particular a surprise from IU, who kept me on her side despite playing a deeply troubled young woman who lashed out at others and herself at every turn. The whole time I was struck by how characters acted like real people—in all their embarrassing, unsexy, mundane glory—and the most important things were left unsaid, just like real life. Nothing about My Ajusshi was neat or satisfying in the way that dramas usually solve all problems and let us move on, but the beauty of the unspoken connection and bittersweet longing will linger with us that much longer, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My Ajusshi wins Best Drama and Best Director in Dramabeans Editors' Pick. It also gets Honorable Mentions in many other categories. Of course I totally think LSK should have gotten the Best Actor pick and Park Hae Young for Best Writing and all the rest, but I am sure they tried to not give every category win to My Ajusshi.
2018 Editors’ Picks
BEST DRAMA
My Ajusshi
girlfriday: I can’t exactly describe watching My Ajusshi as a pleasurable experience, because it was so much more complex than that—an emotionally cathartic, deeply raw, sometimes painful journey through the darkest and loneliest moments of everyday life. It was a story about how tenuous human connection can be, and yet how a seemingly tenuous connection can alter the course of your life in profound ways. The simmering emotions underneath the carefully restrained performances were the highlight of the series, and in particular a surprise from IU, who kept me on her side despite playing a deeply troubled young woman who lashed out at others and herself at every turn. The whole time I was struck by how characters acted like real people—in all their embarrassing, unsexy, mundane glory—and the most important things were left unsaid, just like real life. Nothing about My Ajusshi was neat or satisfying in the way that dramas usually solve all problems and let us move on, but the beauty of the unspoken connection and bittersweet longing will linger with us that much longer, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Honorable Mentions Hundred Million Stars From the Sky
BEST DIRECTING
My Ajusshi
odilettante: Kim Won-seok is no stranger to our end-of-year Editors’ Picks, we voted him Best Director in 2014 for Misaeng and again in 2016 for Signal. So it should be no surprise to see his name once more, this time for My Ajusshi. His unique skill as a director is stripping bare the mundane, yet at the same time elevating the boringly brutal (or brutally boring) everyday life. Characters embrace the silence—their subtle reactions to the world they inhabit is more than enough to reveal their true selves. Sometimes their world is bleak and full of despair, like Ji-an mutely trudging up a hill in the middle of the night, pushing her grandmother in a shopping cart. And sometimes their world is filled with small moments of wonder and joy, such as running just fast enough to catch the last subway train. Kim Won-seok expertly interweaves a mild sense of absurdity with harsh reality, causing the viewer to persistently search the shadows for the flicker of light and ray of hope, reassured that these are just fictional characters on a screen and not the manifestation of one’s own daily struggle to exist.

Here's a really long interview in which he also discussed My Ajusshi:
http://www.upinews.kr/news/newsview.php?ncode=1065568477537188
@widala, I love the new image under you username. How is he looking more handsome than I remember him in the drama?

He's always been conscious about his age and taking age appropriate roles, but it seems to have affected a lot more after My Ajusshi. This can't be a good thing. LSK, you're still young, don't corner yourself into doing "old" roles.
Thanks for the news on Bad Police. I was starting to wonder if there's a major issue with that movie. But three movies back to back. Hope each one is an improvement from the one before.

Here are two more write-ups discussing his thought and anxiety over the controversy:
http://viewers.heraldcorp.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=25032
http://star.mk.co.kr/v2/view.php?sc=40100044&amp;year=2018&amp;no=800410
Wish everyone here a very happy end of the year and a very bright one ahead. You've all made 2018 quite a memorable year for me.

Hahaha... he does, but he is always very good-natured about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcVqSCJaA3Y
Finally, something other than a turtleneck. I was beginning to think that he has a contract with the turtleneck sponsor to wear a different color everyday. No time to post all the different ones, but he's worn a lot of them lately.

Oh my gosh, @widala!!! Where is the swoon emoji?
But what's with this statement "These days I am lonely and teary of old age?"
Source: http://news.jtbc.joins.com/article/article.aspx?news_id=NB11745747

Oh my gosh, look who's back! We've missed you a lot! The MA love is not going away anytime soon, and in fact, I am starting my 3rd watch, although it's going slower than a snail's pace.
Any drama that managed to get @justamom out of her self-imposed break is worth a look.